St. Louis Cardinals’ prospects Jarrett Hoffpauir and Mitchell Boggs continue to have key roles in Arizona

With limited at bats so far during the Arizona Fall League, Jarrett Hoffpauir has made the most of his opportunities and is putting himself in the mix for a role on the 2007 Cardinals.In Thursday’s action, the second baseman was 2 for 5 with two runs batted in and a stolen base.The 24 year old is now hitting .333/.429/.333 with four runs batted in six games and 18 official at bats.

Monday’s AFL action saw the return of Mitchell Boggs to the bump.Having not allowed an earned run in his first two starts, Boggs proved he is human giving up two runs on two hits and two walks in three innings of work.In three starts, Boggs,who had pitched six scoreless going into this game,has an ERA of 2.00 in nine innings of work.Jason Motte got in a perfect inning of work, lowering his ERA to 3.60.Mark Hamilton had a good game with a hit and two walks.The first baseman is hitting .188 in the Arizona sun.

And, as I first reported over at the Birdhouse, Amaury Cazani Marti has been named as Joe Mather’s replacement for Mesa, but has yet to make an appearance.

Blake Dewitt has made the most of his opportunities in Arizona. With another hit on Tuesday, Blake is now hitting .316/.364/.421 with only one strikeout in 19 at bats.

With Tony’s track record of choosing veterans over youngsters, some of his comments from his press conference were quite interesting: “To set the record straight, if I had to choose one, I’d take the young team,” La Russa said. “I’d rather have a group of young guys with true talent than I would (older) guys who are on the (declining) side of their careers.” Huh? Did he forget that he played Miguel Cairo over Brian Barden at the end of the season and that Cairo took playing time away from Brendan Ryan?